Archive/File: orgs/american/christian.identity chr-iden.04
Last-modified: 1993/05/02
Sanctifying Racism
Identity Christianity is a home-grown U.S. version of an older,
aberrant form of Christianity called "British Israelism." As an
ideology, Identity serves to bind together disparate elements of the
U.S. neo-nazi and racist movement while, at the same time,
potentially recruiting otherwise unaffiliated racist fundamentalists
into the racist political groups. The crux of Identity belief is that
the world has been mistaken about the true "identity" of the Jews.
The true Jews, whose history is told in the Bible, are the
descendants of the Lost Tribes who left the Middle East hundreds of
years before Christ's birth, crossed the Caucasus Mountains (hence
"Caucasians") and founded the New Israel in the British Isles. The
white Anglo-Saxons who then settled the North American continent are
also the true Jews and the ethnic group that claims to be Jewish is
an impostor. "Identity" Christians consider Jews to be the offspring
of the "seed of Satan," intent on robbing white Christians of their
real Biblical heritage, while Blacks and other people of color are
considered "mud people," not really human.<71>
Across the United States, scores of small independent churches have
fused Identity racsim with fundamentalist Bible preaching.
Traditionally, Ku Klux Klan-type organizations have distinguished
themselves as groups primarily focused on who and what they despise.
The infusion of Identity teaching into the racist movement gives
racists a "positive" theme to rally around, the notion that they are
destined by God to rule the earth; in that respect, Identity as an
ideology can potentially make the racist movement more attractive to
larger numbers of people.
While it is estimated that U.S. adherents to Identity Christianity
number in the tens of thousands, it is important to note that the
overwhelming majority of fundamentalist and chrismatic Christians
would consider Identity a theological heresy and an unsavory
political orientation. However, because they tout themselves as
"Christians," Identity believers have attempted to forge links with
the rest of the born-again community. Incidences of cross-over are
rare but significant.
A noticeable example involves the Family Christian Broadcasting
Network (FCBN) in Concord, California. One of the network's stars is
Maureen Salaman (request identity salaman.01), hostess of the "Accent
on Health" program. Salaman is a veteran activist with the Liberty
Lobby, considered to be the foremost racist and anti-Semitic
organization in the United States ... Her frequent presence on FCBN
is an unspoken endorsement of her expremist politics. (Diamond,
139-140)
Work Cited
Diamond, Sara. Spiritual Warfare: The Politics of the Christian Right.
Montreal, PQ and New York: Black Rose Books, 1990